Pandora's Box on Sale

Dear Readers, I am enjoying writing this review of Croatian poet Barbara Bazdarić’s book, Pandora’s Box on Sale; readers get three books in one: Copyright to the Dream, Does Hitchcock Have Nightmares and Icarus’ Flying Course. Have fun comparing words in Croatian and English; the Croatian is on the left-hand page; the English translation is on the right. The book opens with a review by Tin Lemac and the table of contents lists each poem in both Croatian and English.

Be patient as you begin reading the poems. The British have a saying, “What is she on about?” You might feel this way and think, even better, “Into what world is she taking me?” There is not a punctuation mark anywhere nor capital letters except for proper names. Put them in yourself and see what happens. I won’t say all will be revealed, but that will help you to enjoy “what she is on about.” You will find lovely phrases to copy and keep. Watch for them, they are often near the end when she makes her point. Have your phone ready so you can go to Google to check her people, places and literary references.

She made me laugh in “The Man in the Man” and “Loose Ends.” I didn’t see at first, but I read them out-loud to reveal all! In three poems, she pricks her characters’ egos: “Affectation,” “Flight” and “Atlantis.” In “Take Shelter” she scolds, because she is in despair about the environment. Is there abuse in “Clay,” in “Coincidence?” See her belief in humanity in “One on One” and “Nobody Will Stop.” And about war, I felt my shoulders tense as I read, “To the Man Who Had His Teeth, but Not His Soul, Pulled Out in the Camp”; and see love there, too; in many of her poems, she shows readers she is not without experience in war. See love in “One Yard of Dropped Paces.” 

“The Postman” deserves its own paragraph; see what you make of it. Oh, my!

This is an admirable translation of 123 poems. We have much in common with Baždarić humor, sense of morality, her fragile belief in humanity, her worry about our environment, about love and war.

Nancy Haydon Gray, Poet, BA, MEd, MS/Communications

Pandora's Box on Sale/

Pandorina kutija na rasprodaji

bilingual poetry collection

English/Croatian